PROMOTION POLICY IN THE SOVIET ARMY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000200410010-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 16, 2013
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 28, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000200410010-2
CLASSIFICATION SECRET, SECURITY INFO
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
iN-FORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY USSR
DATE DISTR. ;L1 Jan 1
SUBJECT Promotion Policy in the Soviet Army
NO. OF PAGES 2
OF ENCLS.
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REPORT NO.
DATE OF INFORMATION
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THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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1. During the years of World War II, the process of promotion in the officers'
corps was rather simple. The People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR--
at that time, Stalin--established the following system of promotions. ;very
officer who spent at least eight continuous months in an advanced line was
entitled to promotion to the next grade. For instance, a senior lieutenant
who fought directly in an advanced line for eight months without interval
was to receive the rank of captain. Naturally, Moscow did not notify the
senior lieutenant that he bad been made captain unless the division cowAnd
applied to the People's Commissar of Defense for his promotion. However,
every request of this kind was immediately granted. An officer entitled to
promotion had to have some close ties with the officer in charge of replace-
ments in the division, who prepared lists of officers for the signature of
the commander and of the commissar of the division. When he had such con-
nections, he was sure of his promotion. Having been promoted to a higher
rank, an officer, even without being promoted to a higher post, which de-
pended also on the command of the regiment and division, received an increase
in pay, because every officer is paid both for service and rank; the higher
the rank, the higher the pay.
2. Beginning with the end of World War II, the system was completely changed.
Regulations provide that a senior lieutenant now must serve four yea.:c.a .n
order to be promoted to captain. A captain must also serve four years to
become a major, while a major needs only three years of service in that
rank to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel. After three years
of service as lieutenant colonel, he is eligible to become a full colonel.
All this, however, does not entitle an officer to promotion unless the :,om-
m?a,nder of the division states in his report that such and such captain is
irreproachable, that he knows his job well, that he is capable and a good.
soldier, that he knows military science, that he is sober, and that he
possesses other good qualities.
ICATION SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00047R000200410010-2
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00047ROO0200410010-2
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SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
3, Another character report, more important and decisive than the first one,
must be submitted by the political section of the division stating that
the captain in question is a member of the Party (Party members have pref-
erence), is well disciplined, is good at social activities, takes an active
part in political studies and meetings, enjoys prestige among Party members,
is completing successfully the short course in the history of the VKP/b,
is studying the worlds of Lenin and Stalin, has not been subject to Party
reprimand, and is devoted to the cause of Lenin and Stalin. If a captain
has this kind of report, he does not need any military education or any
other special education. Such a character report is the best possible
recommendation and sure means of getting a promotion from the offices of
the People's Commissariat of Defense USSR, even if the captain has not served
his full four years. 50X1
As regards the length of assignment of officers to occupation armies,
officers who were sent as replacements from the USSR were promised to be
kept there for two years, but their length of stay depended upon their
conduct. If an officer served his unit conscientiously, the latter depended
upon him and kept him beyond his term indefinitely; if he did not do Vol!)
he was removed before his term expired. I am not familiar with conditions
in the Far East. This information is as of 1948.
SECRET/SECURITY INFORMATION
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr2013/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00047ROO0200410010-2